Star Wars Toys That Were Not to Be

Jason "ToyOtter" Geyer was a toy designer who got a chance to pitch Lucasfilm right before Star Wars: Episode I came out. Most of their ideas didn't make it to market, but the concepts they've scanned in and put online are hilarious. I can't believe Lucasfilm hasn't done a Jabba the Hutt beanbag.

To say we were excited is an understatement. However, there were a few problems. One, since we were not yet an approved vendor to Lucasfilm, we had to use the Original Trilogy to concept with as we couldn’t be shown anything from Episode One. Lucasfilm would review our concepts and let us know if anything could apply to the new movie (this was a painful process that involved discarding far more ideas than the ones that were kept). Two, it was only a year away from the release of Episode One, and most manufacturing lead times were anywhere from 18-12 months to get the product made and to stores. But beggars can’t be choosers, and we hit the ground running.

Jesus, Doomstalk, they show a little kid playing with it. If you’re trying to convince me that a kid wouldn’t think that was the coolest thing ever you were obviously grown in a lab.

These concepts are fantastic. Lucas is an idiot for declining them, though Episode I itself was proof enough of that. As the STAR WARS licensing machine continues to chug along, I suspect we’ll still see these down the line.

@ #5 Doomstalk: Again, I maintain you are evaluating what kids would find cool by the standards of the older, more image-conscious types. Under age 10, kids think nothing of dressing like bugs or walking on all fours for a day; in fact, that variation from the norm is what makes kids cool in the eyes of their peers. Puberty is what suddenly makes any deviancy, like, OMG gross-me-out.

You know I would have loved to get some of these, even now I am thinking ‘Hey A Han In Carbonite Bar Fridge’ actually is kind of COOL, how can I make that? The Game Trophies are also something I was thinking how could I recreate that for my wall… cause they look cool.